TCU

July 23, 2013

Texas quarterback David Ash cleared up a lingering question today about the timetable of a rib injury that impacted him in last year's 20-13 loss to TCU on Thanksgiving night.

Ash said he suffered broken ribs on the eighth play of that contest but stayed in the game, eventually completing 10-of-21 passes for 104 yards, with two interceptions. He was eventually replaced by backup Case McCoy, who threw for 110 yards but also suffered an interception.

Ash wound up skipping Texas' next game, a 42-24 loss at Kansas State, before returning as the starter in a 31-27 victory over Oregon State in the Alamo Bowl to cap a 9-4 season. There had been conflicting reports last season about whether Ash was injured during the TCU game or the week before, against Iowa State. Here is Ash's recollection of last year's TCU game:

“The TCU game, I broke my ribs on the eighth play," Ash said. "I think I played till the third quarter, maybe the fourth quarter. It was a tough situation because, on the one hand, I knew I was missing a lot of throws that I normally would make. Where was that point that I was hurting the team? I don’t know. I learned from it. It was a tough situation. I did the best I could in a lot of ways. In a lot of ways, there’s so much regret.”

July 11, 2013

Baylor offensive guard Cyril Richardson, a Fort Worth native and North Crowley High School graduate, was selected today as one of 75 players on the watch list for the Outland Trophy, given to the nation’s top interior lineman. A second-team All-American last season, Richardson and TCU defensive tackle Chucky Hunter are among 10 players from Big 12 schools on the watch list.

The 2012 Outland went to Texas A&M’s Luke Joeckel, an Arlington High School graduate who was the No. 2 pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. A&M offensive tackle Jake Matthews, who joined Joeckel as an All-America performer last season, is on this year’s watch list. Both Texas Tech and Texas landed two players on the watch list: OT Le’Raven Clark (Texas Tech), DT Kerry Hyder (Texas Tech), OG Trey Hopkins (Texas) and OG Mason Walters (Texas).

June 13, 2013

TCU picked up its fifth 2014 commit when Brenham offensive tackle Austin Schlottmann gave head coach Gary Patterson a call Thursday, pledging his verbal commitment to the Horned Frogs.

The 6-foot-5, 285-pound lineman said TCU just seemed like the right fit when he visited the campus Tuesday."It felt like the place I need to be," Schlottmann said. "My parents will be able to make all of the home games. The facilities are top notch and the coaches are the best of the best."Schlottmann said he loved the not-too-big, not-too-small size of the school and loved trying on one of TCU's purple Nike jerseys while on his visit."Everything is top of the line," he said.He held 10 offers before voicing his commitment to Patterson including Arizona State, Houston and Rice. As part of his conversation with Patterson Thursday, he assured the head coach he was all-in for the purple and white."[Patterson] was excited," Schlottmann said. "[He] made sure I am 100 percent and said he's ready to win a championship."

June 07, 2013

The right-handed pitcher was selected by the Chicago White
Sox with the No. 123 overall pick in the fourth round of major league baseball’s
first-year play draft Friday.

Mitchell said he’ll decide soon whether to sign with the
White Sox or return to TCU for his senior year.

“Growing up playing football or baseball, whichever sport, I
always dreamed of playing in the NFL or the MLB and once I figured out it was
baseball in high school I always dreamed of hearing my name called in the MLB
draft,” Mitchell said from his home in Houston. “I haven’t made a decision yet.
I’m just trying to soak in the moment of hearing my name called and just being
with my family.”

The assigned pick value for the 123rd pick is
$413,000, so Mitchell is looking at a hefty pay day if he signs. It’ll be a
surprise if Mitchell returns to TCU.

“I’m probably honestly leaning towards starting my career,” he said. “Whenever
you get an opportunity it’s hard to pass up with injuries and stuff you can’t
really control.”

He said he’ll make the decision after consulting with his
family and looking at all his options.

“If I choose to move on I want to get going as quickly as I
can and try to get accustomed to the land of minor league baseball and, if not,
I want to get it out of my head so I can focus on TCU,” he said.
Mitchell is the seventh highest drafted TCU player and 41st player
drafted under coach Jim Schlossnagle. The White Sox drafted former Horned Frog Jason
Coats in the 29th round a year ago. In 2005, former TCU pitcher Lance Broadway was the White Sox's No. 1 pick.

Mitchell is 12-6 with three saves over three seasons
at TCU. He has a career ERA of 3.34 with 231 strikeouts in 202 innings.

May 31, 2013

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby announced today that his league will distribute a league-record $198 million in revenues to its 10 members for the 2012-13 school year.

The revenue distributions, announced at the conclusion of the Big 12 spring meetings in Irving, break down to approximately $22 million per school for the league’s eight charter members. First-year members TCU and West Virginia each will receive half-shares of $11 million as part of a four-year phase-in agreement put in place when those schools agreed to join the Big 12.

Even as half-share recipients, the $11 million represents a significant jump in revenues from last year for TCU and West Virginia. TCU was a member of the Mountain West last year, where it never earned more than $2 million in any school year. West Virginia competed in the Big East.

For the other members, the $22 million is the largest per-school take in Big 12 history. It also exceeds today’s announced distribution of revenues in the Southeastern Conference, which passed out $20.7 million per school ($289.4 million total) to its 14 members, including Texas A&M.

Bowlsby said the Big 12 distribution numbers, derived primarily from television contracts, bowls and NCAA basketball tournament appearances, will only increase in future years. Bowlsby said projected revenues will reach $30 million per school by 2015-16, the first year that TCU and West Virginia will receive full shares, and could top $40 million by the end of the league’s existing television contracts with Fox and ESPN that run through the 2024-2025 school year.

May 21, 2013

TCU pitcher
Preston Morrison (7-3) earned first team All-Big 12 honors Tuesday and third
baseman Jantzen Witte and pitcher Alex Young were named to the second team.

TCU outfielder
Boomer White and pitchers Alex Young and Riley Ferrell were named to the
All-Big 12 freshman team. Witte was named co-Scholar Athlete of the Year with Kansas State’s
Jared King.

Kansas State
led with seven first-team selections. The Wildcats nearly swept the league’s
awards. Infielder Ross Kivett was named Big 12 Player of the Year, pitcher
Jordan Piche was named Newcomer of the Year, and Brad Hill won the league’s
coach of the year honor after leading KSU to its first Big 12 title. Kansas pitcher Jake
Matthys was named Freshman of the Year. West
Virginia sophomore Harrison Musgrave earned the
league’s Pitcher of the Year honors.
Baylor’s Cal Towey and Nathan Orf made the first team and Lawton Langford and
Crayton Bare were named to the second team.
TCU pitcher Brandon Finnegan, infielder Paul Hendrix, and White earned
honorable mention.

May 20, 2013

A bus carrying the TCU baseball team to Oklahoma
City Monday for the Big 12 tournament was forced to pull over at a
rest area south of Pauls
Valley and wait out
storms. The team was scheduled to depart Fort
Worth at 1 p.m. but didn’t leave until almost 2 p.m.

That delay may have prevented the team from being in the path of the tornado
that struck Moore, Okla. around 3 p.m. A tornado threatened Ardmore south of the team’s bus.The team was forced to take detours and back roads to reach its hotel in
downtown Oklahoma City after officials closed
stretches of I-35 between Moore and Oklahoma City. The
normally three-hour trip took the team over six hours to arrive in downtown Oklahoma City.The Horned Frogs open the tournament against Oklahoma
State at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at
Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in downtown Oklahoma
City.

May 08, 2013

TCU golfer Julien Brun, a three-time winner of college tournaments this season, has been selected as one of three finalists for the 2013 Ben Hogan Award, given to the nation’s top college golfer.

Brun, a sophomore from Antibes, France who turned heads by winning a 2012 European Challenge Tour event while competing as an amateur, was joined on today’s list of finalists by California’s Michael Kim and Washington’s Chris Williams.

Brun, a semifinalist last year, is the first TCU golfer to be chosen as a Hogan Award finalist by members of the selection committee. He will join Kim and Williams, also semifinalists for last year’s Hogan Award, at the May 20 announcement of the winner in Fort Worth during tournament week activities at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

An All-American and first-team All-Big 12 selection, Brun has posted eight top-10 finishes in 11 college events in the past year, including a runner-up finish at the 2012 NCAA Championships. Selection committee members consider a golfer’s performances in college and amateur events over the past 12 months when voting for the winner.

Brun, who became the sixth amateur to defeat professionals in a European Challenge Tour event at the 2012 Allianz Open Toulouse, is on pace to set the TCU record for lowest season scoring average (70.45). He ranks fourth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and is third among college players in the Golfstat Cup.

But his fellow finalists also offer lofty credentials.

Kim, a sophomore, is the top-ranked college player in both the Golfstat Cup and the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. He has won four college events this season and was selected Tuesday as the Pac-12 Player of the year. In 12 college tournaments, Kim has yet to finish below 11th in any event this season.

Williams, a senior, is the top-ranked player in both the World Amateur Golf Rankings and the Scratch Players World Rankings. He received the 2012 Mark H. McCormack Medal as the world’s top-ranked amateur and is slated to play in both the 2013 U.S. Open and 2013 British Open. But Williams is winless in 10 college events this season, although he has three runner-up finishes and seven top-10 placements.

Before Brun reached the finals in balloting for the 2013 Hogan Award, the best finish by a TCU golfer had been two semifinals appearances: Brun in 2012 and Adam Rubinson, a Fort Worth Paschal graduate, in 2003.

April 30, 2013

Former TCU receiver Josh Boyce was thinking he was headed to
Miami for about
two minutes.
Just before the New England Patriots picked him with the fifth pick of the
fourth round during Saturday's NFL draft, the Dolphins called Boyce to tell him
they were taking him with the seventh pick. But the Patriots
called Boyce before their AFC East rival got the chance. So Boyce went from
sunny Florida
to frigid Foxborough in a matter of moments.

“As soon as I got off the phone the Patriots called me,” said Boyce, who’ll
join former TCU teammate Stansly Maponga today for a media appearance on TCU's campus.
Maponga was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the fifth round.
A recent foot injury may have pushed Boyce down a round, but he’s not
complaining.

“You never know,” he said. “I’m just glad God gave me the
opportunity to get drafted. I can go forward from there.”
He was watching the draft with family at home in Copperas
Cove, the same place he played high school football
with Robert Griffin III, who is now the Redskins quarterback.
He’s excited about adding New England’s Tom
Brady to the list of elite quarterbacks he’s played with. As a redshirt
freshman in 2010, Boyce became one of senior Andy Dalton’s favorite targets at
TCU. Dalton is now the quarterback at Cincinnati.
“It’s great,” Boyce said the day he was drafted. “All three of them are great
guys, great quarterbacks. I’ve been blessed to play with great quarterbacks my
whole career.”As for playing in cold weather? Please. Two
of Boyce’s greatest games came in cold weather. In 2011, Boyce had 163 yards
and three touchdowns in TCU’s heart-stopping win at Boise State
in 40-degree weather. And last fall he came up huge late at West Virginia in 30-degree weather (it felt
much colder to me on the sidelines during the fourth quarter). Boyce burst on
the scene nationally when he led TCU with 126 yards and three touchdowns in a
47-7 rout at Utah
in 2010. It wasn't that cold that day in Salt Lake City, but as hot as Boyce was it wouldn't have mattered.

“I’m pretty comfortable in cold weather,” he said.

Boyce’s choice

But speaking of those great Boyce moments … what does he
consider his favorite TCU memory? He leaves TCU owning many all-time Horned Frog receiving records. More vividly for
TCU fans, he was smack dab in the middle of some of the most exciting TCU
moments of the last 10 years.

Was it the 94-yard touchdown catch from Trevone Boykin
to force overtime at West Virginia
in 2012?

Or was it his ultimate clutch catch on a two-point conversion pass
from Casey Pachall at Boise
State in 2011? “I’ve got a lot of good memories,” Boyce said, first mentioning the Rose Bowl
win over Wisconsin.
“It’s probably the two-point conversion against Boise,
or the long one against Utah
my freshman year. Those are two very good memories.”

It's hard to choose, but I'd probably go with the West Virginia game for Boyce. That thing was over. The season looked cooked. Less than two minutes remaining and TCU was 94 yards from the endzone. And he breaks loose for a 94-yard touchdown? How did that happen? That's a special moment for a special player. And to top it off, he came up with a very tough catch on a low pass from Boykin to clinch the win in double overtime.It was a jaw-dropping series of events in Morgantown. But three years ago in Utah, Boyce helped start an embarrassing 47-7 blowout of Utah by scoring on two touchdown passes from Andy Dalton in the first quarter. The second was a 93-yard beauty that had 50,000 Utes fans gasping in horror.Here's one of the cooler photos from that game. Boyce is celebrating his 26-yard touchdown with former teammate Jeremy Kerley, who's now a receiver for the New York Jets. See how this all came back to the draft?

April 27, 2013

TCU football signee Ranthony Texada posted Saturday's fastest time in the Class 4A Region II 100-meter dash final, earning him his first bid to the track and field state championships.Texada, a defensive back in football, broke a first-place tie with Mount Pleasant's K.D. Cannon after Friday's preliminaries, taking sole possession of first place in the finals with a time of 10.65. Cannon finished second at 10.74.The Class 4A state running events will be held at 6 p.m. Friday May 10 at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin.